By: Gina Ditta-Donahue FNP-C, ABAAHP
Many patients come to see me and they ask me about hormone replacement therapy and they want to know “What is it?” and “Is it safe?” And I would rather talk to people about hormone balancing, because HRT is a big buzzword right now. And it really suggests that there’s one way of looking at a person, and that if we put you on hormone replacement therapy, somehow that single individual intervention will solve all of your problems. You are not just a body walking around with hormones. So, I really don’t like talking just about HRT because to me it is an oversimplification of your biology.
When I talk to people about symptoms and about balancing hormones, I have to know who you are. We have to talk about your childhood, your past, your stressors, your environment, your lifestyle, your diet. How much do you move? How well do you sleep? What do you eat? Because all of these things impact the signals that are being transmitted throughout your body. What are hormones? Hormones are just messengers. Each hormone carries very specific types of signals to very specific receptors in your body. So what kind of signals are needing to be sent? How are they being received? Are they being received well? Are they being misinterpreted?
These are the kinds of things that we want to try to understand when we are talking about balancing hormones. So in a previous video, I talked about menopause and perimenopause. And these are certainly phases in a woman’s life that are defined by very significant changes and hormonal fluctuations. So, does that woman potentially need some help by taking some outside recommended substances, such as hormones, to help get her body back to balance? Potentially, yeah, that might really help her. But we have to first understand how she experiences these changes in her body.
The same with men. I see many men who come to me feeling like their testosterone levels are off. Okay, well testosterone is an end product. Estradiol and estrogen, these are end products. Do you have the precursors? Do you have the necessary ingredients to make these end products? So these are the kinds of questions that I like to talk to people about when it comes to balancing hormones.
Do I ever prescribe hormones to people? Yes, of course I do, as part of an overall comprehensive plan. Are hormones safe to take? It depends on your body. That is a very individualized question to answer. Yes, it is safe AND no, it’s not. You are the answer to that question.
We can’t just simplify your body into such black and white, yes and no kinds of answers to these questions. There are a lot of hormones being prescribed today by people who just simply plug your information into some kind of an algorithm or protocol or guideline. That approach is always unsafe, in my opinion, for any type of medical care. Particularly with hormones, because you can have some very devastating side effects from hormones if they are not provided to you in a safe, personalized way.
When you are making decisions about your own body, my recommendation is that you meet with somebody as a healthcare practitioner who sits down and asks you very pertinent questions about yourself, your life, your health, in other areas and aspects besides just A Thyroid or A Sex Hormone carrier, and then you put together a comprehensive plan in order to ensure that you are balancing all the aspects of your life, not just hormones.